Friday, January 8, 2016

The First and the Last

Of course, this is a famous ancient quote from the Bible. The symbolic statement is still very important for humans, a vivid reference to their conviction that God--ultimate reality--is eternal, that God is, was, and will become, that God existed before the Big Bang billions of years past and will exist after the demise of the cosmos in billions of years future. (See several of my posts on philosopher Charles Hartshorne and others for more on that.)

Today, let's bring the image down to where our very finite shoe sole meets the ground in front of us, now, here, this second.

Think of yourself now, and others now, individuals you personally know now--the transcendental reality here at this moment, this hour, this very day.

Cosmology is fascinating, but so much of it is abstraction
and hypothesis.

In contrast, our conscious moment, right now, is an actual
fact--you and I exist right now
(except for atheists such as
Sam Harris who claim we don’t,
that each of our “I”s is an illusion).

This next second, minute, hour, day is our first step into the future. With that typed key, I did step.

And possibly it could be our last second, last minute, last hour, last day (and eventually some finite moment, depending on when we were conceived in the past, will be our last). 150,000 humans died today and many thousands were conceived.

252 births, 107 deaths per minute.

All we have for sure is now, this next moment.

So live as if this is always true—this moment, this minute, this hour, this day—is our first of what is to become.

Because this moment is all we have.

Why do we so often become preoccupied with superficial stuff, choose wrongly, let our inner self be twisted by immoral media or our dark side? Why do we focus on resentments, hurts, fears? Do we have time?

This next moment, sooner or later, in the not too distant future will be the last of who we have been.

So live NOW! Every moment in one sense is our first and last--never to become again.

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Words of Truth

TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives…If we remember those times and places…where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. --Howard Zinn

I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.--Martin Luther King Jr.

True religion consisted in an inward life, wherein the heart does love and reverence God the Creator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness...I found no narrowness respecting sects and opinions, but believed that sincere, upright-hearted people, in every society, who truly love God, were accepted of him.--John Woolman

Love each other as I have loved you.. I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father.--Jesus in John 15: 12-15

...Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

You have answered right, said Jesus, do this and life is yours...

Who is my neighbor?

Jesus replied with the Parable of the Good Samaritan [heretic, outsider, enemy].--from Luke 10:27-37

Religion has been emphatically embodied, not in speculative theories, but in practical righteousness, in active virtues, in reverence to God, in benevolence to man- the latter being the only sure test of the former. --Thomas M'Clintock

...It is safer to approach God through the Holy Spirit than through the door of theology. We can identify the Holy Spirit whenever it makes its presence felt. Whenever we see someone who is loving, compassionate, mindful, caring, and understanding, we know that the Holy Spirit is there. --Thich Nhat Hanh

Faith...manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted; shelters the miserable; aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it.--Menno Simons

About Me

A committed Process-theist, Enlightenment ethicist and humanist, moral realist, human rights activist, and moderate skeptic (like Martin Gardner co-founder of the modern skeptic movement). I am a free-seeker--an avid seeker of the Good, the True, the Beautiful, and of equality, peace, justice, mercy, compassion, fidelity, generosity, and so forth. I try and model my life on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and his parables such as the Good Samaritan. I've a deep passion for worldwide outreach to those in need. Loving and living for the Divine--Ultimate Reality in whom we love, move, and have our being.
A poet and novelist; Married with three grown kids; Degree in Creative Writing from Cal State University Long Beach; Lived in the Middle East, Montana, etc; Former literature and writing teacher.